Lots of great stuff for photographers in this release, including the insane de-blurring feature demoed at the last Adobe MAX conference. But the stuff I’m interested in is only briefly mentioned in this video: editable rounded rectangles (finally), and subpixel type smoothing (also finally).

The CC name refers to Creative Cloud. Adobe will no longer be selling individual Creative Suite products, and will instead be selling subscriptions to their cloud products. Harrison Weber of The Next Webexplains:

For Adobe, the reasoning behind this decision is simple. According to our sources, the company had long searched for ways to stabilize its revenue. Previously, it would receive bursts of income every two years with the latest Creative Suite release. Convincing uses to upgrade was a daunting task that left an impact on product decisions.

It makes sense for Adobe and for users of multiple formerly-known-as-Creative Suite applications who want to stay updated every year. But the lack of choice in whether to purchase a single product for a one-time fee and know that it will work indefinitely means that it’s an easy choice as to whether I will be upgrading: I won’t.